Minus Ten Review- 46

Can you believe this was Ingawanis Woodlands?

Ten years ago on the blog I wrote about my experience at what is now Ingawanis Woodlands with Mike Reimer and Jason Boucher then both of Salsa Cycles. I wrote last week that it was the "second big honor" of that week back then. It was only second because of the time when it occurred, not because it was in some way less than the other thing.

Anyway, check out this image. Those of you who now ride Ingawanis Woodlands may not recognize this at all. This was a service road that ran near to the perimeter of the parcel of land which then was known as the South Side of Camp Ingawanis, and before that, it was the Girl Scouts of America camp portion of Camp Ingawanis.

All that is left of this service road is a portion that runs straight back off of the gravel road to the South end of the property. However; ten years ago, the trails crossed this road at four different points along the way. If you really pay attention, you can see where this was yet today. However; I am willing to bet that unless you've been riding there since before the big logging days, you won't know about this road, which is now choked off with underbrush.

Speaking of the "big logging days", when a company came in and took tons of trees out of both sides of Ingawanis, you also probably didn't get to ride out there when the canopy of trees was such that you were in darkness nearly 2/3rds of the time you were riding out there. I can remember one particular ride when I was out there riding as it was raining. The tree cover was so thick that I never got wet, and the trail, for the most part, stayed completely dry. You couldn't get that ride in today. You'd get soaked. So many trees were logged off, and others lost in various wind storms since then.

The '07 Mamasita from Salsa Cycles.

So, back to that ride ten years ago. That was the day that a lucky few of us got to experience the Mamasita. This was the end of what I would call the first generation of 29"er geometry and development. It was the extreme example of the cycling industries use of then current day technology in an effort to get 29"ers to "handle like 26"ers.

For instance, it was understood that the trail measurement of the front end of 29"ers needed to be "shorter" in order to get "quicker" (unstable) handling like 26"ers had. The only way to do that in 2006 was to steepen the head angle of the frame. Fork offset was "frozen" by years of dogged adherence to "NORBA geometry" for 26"ers at 38mm. Every fork manufacturer used this offset. There were no other choices. So, Salsa decided to steepen the head angle to compensate on the first Mamsitas to a whopping 73° degrees! It worked in one way. However; it made it so that the Reba suspension fork wanted to bend backward, instead of slide on its bushings and compress. The head angle was too steep.

Trek/Gary Fisher working with Fox effectively ended this nonsense the following year when the first Fox 29"er forks came out with a generous 51mm of offset for 29"ers and 46mm of offset for 26'ers. The fork crown forgings now existed to give designers more ways to utilize a better combination of offset, head angle, and wheel size to give us the "slack/long" geometries we see today on trail bikes. 29"ers brought this to reality.

That was quite a ride back in '06, and looking back on it, it was first and foremost a beginning of new friendships. It was secondly a moment in mountain biking history that I got to taste and see. Thirdly, it marked the beginnings of the riding in Ingawanis Woodlands on a regular basis and was a time that cannot again be repeated due to the changes out there.

Minus Ten Review- 46

Can you believe this was Ingawanis Woodlands?

Ten years ago on the blog I wrote about my experience at what is now Ingawanis Woodlands with Mike Reimer and Jason Boucher then both of Salsa Cycles. I wrote last week that it was the "second big honor" of that week back then. It was only second because of the time when it occurred, not because it was in some way less than the other thing.

Anyway, check out this image. Those of you who now ride Ingawanis Woodlands may not recognize this at all. This was a service road that ran near to the perimeter of the parcel of land which then was known as the South Side of Camp Ingawanis, and before that, it was the Girl Scouts of America camp portion of Camp Ingawanis.

All that is left of this service road is a portion that runs straight back off of the gravel road to the South end of the property. However; ten years ago, the trails crossed this road at four different points along the way. If you really pay attention, you can see where this was yet today. However; I am willing to bet that unless you've been riding there since before the big logging days, you won't know about this road, which is now choked off with underbrush.

Speaking of the "big logging days", when a company came in and took tons of trees out of both sides of Ingawanis, you also probably didn't get to ride out there when the canopy of trees was such that you were in darkness nearly 2/3rds of the time you were riding out there. I can remember one particular ride when I was out there riding as it was raining. The tree cover was so thick that I never got wet, and the trail, for the most part, stayed completely dry. You couldn't get that ride in today. You'd get soaked. So many trees were logged off, and others lost in various wind storms since then.

The '07 Mamasita from Salsa Cycles.

So, back to that ride ten years ago. That was the day that a lucky few of us got to experience the Mamasita. This was the end of what I would call the first generation of 29"er geometry and development. It was the extreme example of the cycling industries use of then current day technology in an effort to get 29"ers to "handle like 26"ers.

For instance, it was understood that the trail measurement of the front end of 29"ers needed to be "shorter" in order to get "quicker" (unstable) handling like 26"ers had. The only way to do that in 2006 was to steepen the head angle of the frame. Fork offset was "frozen" by years of dogged adherence to "NORBA geometry" for 26"ers at 38mm. Every fork manufacturer used this offset. There were no other choices. So, Salsa decided to steepen the head angle to compensate on the first Mamsitas to a whopping 73° degrees! It worked in one way. However; it made it so that the Reba suspension fork wanted to bend backward, instead of slide on its bushings and compress. The head angle was too steep.

Trek/Gary Fisher working with Fox effectively ended this nonsense the following year when the first Fox 29"er forks came out with a generous 51mm of offset for 29"ers and 46mm of offset for 26'ers. The fork crown forgings now existed to give designers more ways to utilize a better combination of offset, head angle, and wheel size to give us the "slack/long" geometries we see today on trail bikes. 29"ers brought this to reality.

That was quite a ride back in '06, and looking back on it, it was first and foremost a beginning of new friendships. It was secondly a moment in mountain biking history that I got to taste and see. Thirdly, it marked the beginnings of the riding in Ingawanis Woodlands on a regular basis and was a time that cannot again be repeated due to the changes out there.

Ingawanis Woodlands

Loaded up and truckin'

Saturday afternoon was about celebrating a big turn of events for the cycling, running, and hiking communities here. It was a day about celebrating the awarding of the REAP grant that will allow for the purchase of the property known to us as Ingawanis Woodlands as a Bremer County Park. Well, it used to be known as the "South Side of The Camp", or simply as 'The South Side". A little back story here, as far as I know about it.....

Years ago there were two camps for Scouts. The camps were divided by Quarter Section Creek, with the Boy Scouts on the North and the Girl Scouts on the South side. After the Girl Scouts abandoned the South side, the Boy Scouts set up a COPE course on one of the prominent hills that could be accessed by a service road running straight back into the camp from a gravel road. There also was a service road that nearly circumnavigated the West side of the Camp's South side and was a big dividing line at one time between what I used to call the "Inner Loop" and the "Outer Loop" of Ingawanis' South Side. Back in the early 2000's, the Boy Scouts instigated a mountain biking program, and talks about opening up the Camp lands to mountain biking were started. I first rode out at Ingawanis in 2002/03 and have been out there about every year since then to partake of the ever evolving situation out there. 

Anyway, recently the Boy Scouts needed money, so selling off the South Side, which was little used by the troops, was considered. The end of riding at Ingawanis was a very real possibility, as encroaching development from Waverly, a town nearby, was threatening to take the South side and put high dollar houses out there. Trust me.....I totally get why someone would want to live out there, but it would have been the end of a resource for the public that is rare in this State- that being a tract of heavily wooded, hilly land surrounded on two sides by water. Not only that, but it is a haven for all sorts of wildlife and plant life unique to the area. 

Making final adjustments to ride.

Anyway, the land was scooped up by the Iowa Heritage Foundation in hopes that Bremer County could somehow or another pull together grant money to buy the land. That it did, with a bit of shortfall, but now it seems fairly certain that this tract of land will remain in the public realm and not be divided  up into parcels for private homeowners. Yay! 

So, a pig was roasted, goodies were made, and we all converged upon Ingawanis Woodlands, (which is what the South Side is called these days), to celebrate by riding, running, hiking, and visiting with one another. The good news was shared, and we all had a great time. 

Now specifically, it was planned by Leif, Andy, and myself that we would meet up out there with a couple of others and ride the trail, then eat and hang out. These days the Sun sets early, so we wanted to get a move on before 5:00pm, and we hit the small grassy lot where the trail head is by 4:45pm ready to roll. The other two we were to meet weren't there, and with limited Sun, I wasn't of a mind to dilly-dally, or we'd get caught out with having to mount our lights. Normally this wouldn't have been a big deal, but I was the only one that had been there before in our group! So, without further adieu, we hit the trail in my usual clockwise manner. (I guess most folks roll the loop counter-clockwise. I just don't think it flows well that way.)

What it's all about. Leif looks out over the Cedar River

So, with three fat bikes we took off. I was a bit apprehensive about how I would do, since I had a splitting headache and in a silly move, I brought my Blackborrow DS in "high range" to these trails which feature some climbs and challenges. Not only that, but my two riding partners were young enough to be my kids and Leif has a monstrous motor. Oh well!

As it turned out, I did just fine, cleaning every climb okay, but sending my old heart rate skyrocketing. I probably should really wear a monitor, but...... Anyway, Leif would have dropped me like a bad habit had he known where he was going, but we stuck together. 

We met strings of four to five bikers coming the other way about half way through the big loop, and it was shocking, really, for me to see so many folks enjoying the trails out there. Usually I would see one other person out there on a super rare occasion, but now with the land deal being finalized, it seems the public is finally catching on to this little gem of wooded land laced with some really nice trails. Once we got around to the lodge proper, where the festivities were taking place, we saw a lot full of cars and a lot of people eating, drinking, setting off on runs, and hikes, which was just amazing. 

It has been a long time since the days when the mountain biking community was allowed into the South Side, when the trails were confusing, and shorter! I specifically remember the time we were there riding the new Salsa Cycles Mamasita, which hardly anyone else had ever seen before, in the snow. We didn't even know really where we were going, but I remember Salsa Cycles' Mike Reimer saying at the time that he thought the place could end up being "really good". He turned out to be prophetic. It is really good out there now, but it almost was all lost.  

Thank God it will be open to the public so hikers, walkers, runners, and cyclists can all see what a resource it is, and how rare this sort of open space is in Iowa.

Ingawanis Woodlands

Loaded up and truckin'

Saturday afternoon was about celebrating a big turn of events for the cycling, running, and hiking communities here. It was a day about celebrating the awarding of the REAP grant that will allow for the purchase of the property known to us as Ingawanis Woodlands as a Bremer County Park. Well, it used to be known as the "South Side of The Camp", or simply as 'The South Side". A little back story here, as far as I know about it.....

Years ago there were two camps for Scouts. The camps were divided by Quarter Section Creek, with the Boy Scouts on the North and the Girl Scouts on the South side. After the Girl Scouts abandoned the South side, the Boy Scouts set up a COPE course on one of the prominent hills that could be accessed by a service road running straight back into the camp from a gravel road. There also was a service road that nearly circumnavigated the West side of the Camp's South side and was a big dividing line at one time between what I used to call the "Inner Loop" and the "Outer Loop" of Ingawanis' South Side. Back in the early 2000's, the Boy Scouts instigated a mountain biking program, and talks about opening up the Camp lands to mountain biking were started. I first rode out at Ingawanis in 2002/03 and have been out there about every year since then to partake of the ever evolving situation out there. 

Anyway, recently the Boy Scouts needed money, so selling off the South Side, which was little used by the troops, was considered. The end of riding at Ingawanis was a very real possibility, as encroaching development from Waverly, a town nearby, was threatening to take the South side and put high dollar houses out there. Trust me.....I totally get why someone would want to live out there, but it would have been the end of a resource for the public that is rare in this State- that being a tract of heavily wooded, hilly land surrounded on two sides by water. Not only that, but it is a haven for all sorts of wildlife and plant life unique to the area. 

Making final adjustments to ride.

Anyway, the land was scooped up by the Iowa Heritage Foundation in hopes that Bremer County could somehow or another pull together grant money to buy the land. That it did, with a bit of shortfall, but now it seems fairly certain that this tract of land will remain in the public realm and not be divided  up into parcels for private homeowners. Yay! 

So, a pig was roasted, goodies were made, and we all converged upon Ingawanis Woodlands, (which is what the South Side is called these days), to celebrate by riding, running, hiking, and visiting with one another. The good news was shared, and we all had a great time. 

Now specifically, it was planned by Leif, Andy, and myself that we would meet up out there with a couple of others and ride the trail, then eat and hang out. These days the Sun sets early, so we wanted to get a move on before 5:00pm, and we hit the small grassy lot where the trail head is by 4:45pm ready to roll. The other two we were to meet weren't there, and with limited Sun, I wasn't of a mind to dilly-dally, or we'd get caught out with having to mount our lights. Normally this wouldn't have been a big deal, but I was the only one that had been there before in our group! So, without further adieu, we hit the trail in my usual clockwise manner. (I guess most folks roll the loop counter-clockwise. I just don't think it flows well that way.)

What it's all about. Leif looks out over the Cedar River

So, with three fat bikes we took off. I was a bit apprehensive about how I would do, since I had a splitting headache and in a silly move, I brought my Blackborrow DS in "high range" to these trails which feature some climbs and challenges. Not only that, but my two riding partners were young enough to be my kids and Leif has a monstrous motor. Oh well!

As it turned out, I did just fine, cleaning every climb okay, but sending my old heart rate skyrocketing. I probably should really wear a monitor, but...... Anyway, Leif would have dropped me like a bad habit had he known where he was going, but we stuck together. 

We met strings of four to five bikers coming the other way about half way through the big loop, and it was shocking, really, for me to see so many folks enjoying the trails out there. Usually I would see one other person out there on a super rare occasion, but now with the land deal being finalized, it seems the public is finally catching on to this little gem of wooded land laced with some really nice trails. Once we got around to the lodge proper, where the festivities were taking place, we saw a lot full of cars and a lot of people eating, drinking, setting off on runs, and hikes, which was just amazing. 

It has been a long time since the days when the mountain biking community was allowed into the South Side, when the trails were confusing, and shorter! I specifically remember the time we were there riding the new Salsa Cycles Mamasita, which hardly anyone else had ever seen before, in the snow. We didn't even know really where we were going, but I remember Salsa Cycles' Mike Reimer saying at the time that he thought the place could end up being "really good". He turned out to be prophetic. It is really good out there now, but it almost was all lost.  

Thank God it will be open to the public so hikers, walkers, runners, and cyclists can all see what a resource it is, and how rare this sort of open space is in Iowa.

Wednesday News And Views

A few things on the radar today....

Special Delivery? The confounded FedEx Tracker has been stuck on the same information since last Saturday, (not that I have been checking it constantly....because, well......you know!), and at any rate, the frame/fork from Black Mountain Cycles is due in today, according to the FedEx folks.

Never believe any shipping tracker device, until your package is in hand, as I always say, so I'll just wait it out till it actually arrives. When it does, I have a temporary, "get-it-up-and-running" build I will throw at it to get it....well, up and running! It won't be fancy, but it'll do the trick for now. The funny thing is, I only have to buy a few parts to finish it off, and almost everything will be silver, which is what I wanted to go for anyway. If everything plays well, I may be able to start riding this thing yet this week.

Well, assuming you can believe the FedEx Tracker, which I do not. Just sayin'!

Breaking The Mold: You know, I have opined here before about carbon fiber, "me-too" frames coming out of the woodwork from all sorts of outlets that seem to have similar "DNA" to each other. In other words, they seem to be designed in a somewhat conservative manner and sold via Chinese or other outlets with minor tweaks to distinguish one from the other. I find all of that to be rather boring and un-inventive. I mean, anyone can order from a menu, and to my mind, it belies the potential of using carbon fiber composites as a frame material in the first place.

The running line on carbon has always been that the designers and engineers could do whatever shapes that optimized performance that were necessary. You didn't have to be constrained by tubular shapes, limited tube dimensions, or difficulty in forming. Carbon fiber is very labor intensive, and thus, usually expensive. However; imagine if a wild, multi-shaped frame set could be produced to address all the inefficiencies in 29"er frame design. Then the price might just be worth the performance gained. Maybe the full potential of composites technology could be brought to bear to elevate performance, and not mimic the look of a steel cruiser rendered in carbon fiber.

Well, finally we're starting to see something like this with the Chiru Bikes I reported on, and with these images released by Giant of their upcoming XtC Composite 29"er. Giant appears to have taken a "clean sheet" approach to hard tail 29"er design with a material that allows what otherwise would be impossible to render in metal. Offset down tube, asymmetrical chain stays, and massive looking tube shapes. You may have seen some of this on road bikes, or full suspension designs, but never on such a big wheeled machine has this been seen before.I have a link to more on the Twenty Nine Inches post about this bike here.

<==image poached from the Salsa Cycles blog.

Frostbike '11: So....it happens that I'll be seeing some other new, fun stuff this coming weekend up at Quality Bicycle Product's annual dealer only show, Frostbike. This also means that another recent tradition that sprang up a couple of years ago will also take place again. That would be the hanging out at Mike's Bikes in Northfield, MN with Ben Witt, and friends. There will be merriment of a different sort this time though, and you can look for reports on all of that coming this weekend from the source of the action.

This year promises to be a good one from the looks of it, if you are into 29"ers, so stay tuned and look forward to my reports here and on Twenty Nine Inches. One of the new rigs I hope to be reporting on is the new Mamasita, (image in red shown here), which has always been close to my heart, as it was the introduction of the original Mamasita to me at a Salsa event held out at the Boy Scout Camp that I got to know Gnat and Kid a bit better. That was a great weekend that I'll not forget, and that memory is tied to the Mamasita for me. I know I am looking forward to seeing that bike, and the rest of the goods, and most importantly- the people, this weekend.

Wednesday News And Views

A few things on the radar today....

Special Delivery? The confounded FedEx Tracker has been stuck on the same information since last Saturday, (not that I have been checking it constantly....because, well......you know!), and at any rate, the frame/fork from Black Mountain Cycles is due in today, according to the FedEx folks.

Never believe any shipping tracker device, until your package is in hand, as I always say, so I'll just wait it out till it actually arrives. When it does, I have a temporary, "get-it-up-and-running" build I will throw at it to get it....well, up and running! It won't be fancy, but it'll do the trick for now. The funny thing is, I only have to buy a few parts to finish it off, and almost everything will be silver, which is what I wanted to go for anyway. If everything plays well, I may be able to start riding this thing yet this week.

Well, assuming you can believe the FedEx Tracker, which I do not. Just sayin'!

Breaking The Mold: You know, I have opined here before about carbon fiber, "me-too" frames coming out of the woodwork from all sorts of outlets that seem to have similar "DNA" to each other. In other words, they seem to be designed in a somewhat conservative manner and sold via Chinese or other outlets with minor tweaks to distinguish one from the other. I find all of that to be rather boring and un-inventive. I mean, anyone can order from a menu, and to my mind, it belies the potential of using carbon fiber composites as a frame material in the first place.

The running line on carbon has always been that the designers and engineers could do whatever shapes that optimized performance that were necessary. You didn't have to be constrained by tubular shapes, limited tube dimensions, or difficulty in forming. Carbon fiber is very labor intensive, and thus, usually expensive. However; imagine if a wild, multi-shaped frame set could be produced to address all the inefficiencies in 29"er frame design. Then the price might just be worth the performance gained. Maybe the full potential of composites technology could be brought to bear to elevate performance, and not mimic the look of a steel cruiser rendered in carbon fiber.

Well, finally we're starting to see something like this with the Chiru Bikes I reported on, and with these images released by Giant of their upcoming XtC Composite 29"er. Giant appears to have taken a "clean sheet" approach to hard tail 29"er design with a material that allows what otherwise would be impossible to render in metal. Offset down tube, asymmetrical chain stays, and massive looking tube shapes. You may have seen some of this on road bikes, or full suspension designs, but never on such a big wheeled machine has this been seen before.I have a link to more on the Twenty Nine Inches post about this bike here.

<==image poached from the Salsa Cycles blog.

Frostbike '11: So....it happens that I'll be seeing some other new, fun stuff this coming weekend up at Quality Bicycle Product's annual dealer only show, Frostbike. This also means that another recent tradition that sprang up a couple of years ago will also take place again. That would be the hanging out at Mike's Bikes in Northfield, MN with Ben Witt, and friends. There will be merriment of a different sort this time though, and you can look for reports on all of that coming this weekend from the source of the action.

This year promises to be a good one from the looks of it, if you are into 29"ers, so stay tuned and look forward to my reports here and on Twenty Nine Inches. One of the new rigs I hope to be reporting on is the new Mamasita, (image in red shown here), which has always been close to my heart, as it was the introduction of the original Mamasita to me at a Salsa event held out at the Boy Scout Camp that I got to know Gnat and Kid a bit better. That was a great weekend that I'll not forget, and that memory is tied to the Mamasita for me. I know I am looking forward to seeing that bike, and the rest of the goods, and most importantly- the people, this weekend.